3 visuals for webpage

This code will help produce the three visuals that are going to be a part of each equity tracker indicator webpage: regional map (tract level) of most recent data, chart of the most recent data, chart of trends over time.

If the indicator is a PUMS/OPSI indicator that can be accessed through Elmer. Getting the data to a workable version may require some data transformation. To explore, clean, transform, and generate a final data set, please use the data-gen-pums-template. This script will generate an .rda for the map and an .rda for the charts. These data sets will be loaded in before the data visualization code.

Indicator Explanation

[Please include the following for a general, layperson audience: 1-2 sentences explaining what your indicator is/measures, what it says about people’s life outcomes; 1 sentence describing why it is useful/relevant in the indicator’s theme]

1. Map of most recent data

To map data in this form, it requires accessing data at the regional/tract level from ACS since the Elmer data set is already aggregated to equity group/quintile.

Create Visual

Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table S2201; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles



  1. 9.0%: The region’s average SNAP participation
  2. 11.5%: The national average SNAP participation
  3. 55.2%: The highest average SNAP participation at census tract level in the region


Insights & Analysis

  • King County has the lowest average for SNAP participation (8.0%), followed by Snohomish (8.8%), Kitsap (10.0%), and Pierce (11.7%)
  • There are 40 census tracts with a 0% participation with 30 tracts in King County, 2 in Kitsap, 4 in Pierce, and 4 in Snohomish
  • The four census tracts with the highest participation, east Tacoma (55.2%), Downtown Tacoma (41.1%), southeast Des Moines (39.7%), and east Tacoma (36.5%)



2. Facet of most recent data

Create Visual

SNAP Participation by Community

Percent of households participating in SNAP

U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample

Data call outs

As a region:

  1. 3.5X: People with a disability are 3.5 times more likely to participate in SNAP
  2. 2X: Limited English proficiency households are twice as likely to participate in SNAP
  3. 2X: People of color are twice as likely to participate in SNAP


Insights & Analysis

  • In King County, limited English proficiency households are three times as likely to participate in SNAP
  • As a region, 32% of low income households participate in SNAP participation leaving room for increased participation
  • As a region, 4% of non-low income households participate in SNAP which likely due to the broad question asked if an individual or household member participated in SNAP in the past 12 months



3. Facet of trend data

Create Visual

SNAP Participation Trend by Community

Percent of households participating in SNAP

U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample

Data call outs

  1. 3.5X: In 2021, people with a disability were 3.5 times more like to participate in SNAP than people without a disability - an increase in disparity since 2016
  2. 2X: People of color have consistently been twice as likely to participate in SNAP compared to the white non-Hispanic population
  3. 5% point change: From 2016 to 2021, there was a 5% point decrease in SNAP participation for low income families across the region


Insights & Analysis

  • As a region from 2011 to 2021, there was a switch of households with older adults 65+ having higher SNAP participation compared to those without older adults 65+
  • From 2011 to 2021, Snohomish County saw the largest decline in disparity for people of color
  • As a region, 2016 was a high point for SNAP participation



Transfer files

Copy files from Github > Y drive

Copy files from Y drive > website folder

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